


Before I Wake

by hollyandvice (hiasobi_writes)



Series: Holly's Round Seven H/C Bingo Card [21]
Category: The Seer and the Sword
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-09
Updated: 2016-10-09
Packaged: 2018-08-20 10:39:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 554
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8245997
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hiasobi_writes/pseuds/hollyandvice
Summary: Separating from Amber aches, but it is nothing to the loss of Gramere, the loss of her father, the separation from her mother, the loss of her kingdom.
Torina makes her way as far from home as she has ever been, never daring to look back.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Unbeta'ed. Written for H/C Bingo Round 7.

As she rests astride Amber's back, she knows there is more at stake here than she could ever have expected before she fled. The months spent in her makeshift prison have weakened her body but not her spirit or her resolve. The path will be treacherous and it will take all of the skills Landen taught her--however few, however brief--to survive. It was his loss, his desperation, his understanding of the fragility of power that gave her this chance, and she will take it in both hands and survive. Because survival may be all she has left.

\----

Separating from Amber aches, but it is nothing to the loss of Gramere, the loss of her father, the separation from her mother, the loss of her kingdom. It is the memories of her losses that give her the strength the step into the freezing cold water, pants rolled up and feet prickling with the sensation. She breathes deeply, finding the warrior's strength that her father gifted her with, and steps forward. One slow, aching step at a time, she makes her way through the river, letting the water hide her tracks as the ground never could. One trembling, unsteady step at a time, she progresses further from the only home she has ever known, to her only chance at salvation. One careful, hesitant step at a time, she moves forward forward forward, and hopes that she might be saved.

\----

The mountains are tall and treacherous, and Torina knows she is tempting fate traversing them in this weather. The danger is great, but the danger of staying in Archeld would have been greater. There, she would not have survived another moon. Here, she has a chance. The weight of the crystal in her pocket and the memory of the pain and loss she suffered at Vesputo's hands are enough help her put one battered foot in front of another, and she makes her way forward forward forward, only hoping that there is a light at the other end. It is that blind hope that carries her to the mountain's summit, around the sentry post, into the foothills. She walks with all the strength left in her body and can only hope it is enough to carry her to safety.

\----

She isn't sure when she loses consciousness, but she is grateful when the moment comes. She's tired--so tired--and the rest is a welcome respite.

\----

When she sleeps, her dreams are of Vesputo. Of the lie he made of their love, and the lies he spun for her father. His affection had all been but a falsehood, and that knowledge aches in her breast, weighing her down down down as she struggles to breathe. So many months of impeccable deception, and there was none that could see through it. None, at least that she had heard. Oh, that she had heeded Landen's warning at the first! Perhaps then she could have saved her father, saved her kingdom from this treacherous fate. But now is too late to mourn. Now is the time to rise from the ashes of her family's destruction, rise to the strength her travel has revealed within her, rise from all that is left of the life she knew to the new life that awaits her.

And like a phoenix, she rises.

**Author's Note:**

> [Come hang with me on tumblr!](http://hollyandvice.tumblr.com/)


End file.
